Baseball team takes two of three from Bowdoin despite change in location

Though a soggy Huskins Field forced the Jumbos to play their home series against the Bowdoin Polar Bears in Maine, the team would not be bogged down, and swept a Saturday double header (5-1, 4-1) to avenge Friday's 11 inning 5-3 defeat.

Senior Jon Lee was the highlight of the weekend, as the pitcher continued a memorable season that already features the second no-hitter of his Tufts career. Lee started and won both games of Saturday's double-header, pitching a total of 13 innings and allowing just one earned run.

"Lee's performance was gutsy," sophomore catcher Bob Kenny said. "He started the second game because he only threw 79 pitches in the first. He was only supposed to throw three innings, but he was throwing so well that he went six."

Tufts began Saturday's second game with an explosion of runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Jumbos loaded the bases with no one out and scored their first run on senior tri-captain Brian Shapiro's sacrifice fly.

Junior designated hitter Greg Hickey stepped up to the plate with two men on and launched Bowdoin pitcher Andres Nichols' offering out of the park for a three run blast to left-centerfield.

"We needed offense badly in the second game," Kenny said. "Hickey stepped up with the homer with people on second and third."

The long ball put Tufts on top 4-0 and set the stage for Lee to take the mound in the second. Lee allowed just two hits in his six innings of work to earn his second win of the day and improve his season record to 6-2.

Junior Randy Newsom notched three strong innings in relief of Lee surrendering one run, one hit, and one walk. The lone Polar Bear run of the game came in the seventh inning when Jimmy Shea scored on a groundout by Tom McMahon.

Despite roaring out of the gates to begin the game, the Jumbo offense could not put together an attack for the duration of the contest. Hickey singled in the fourth and freshman Matt Clement singled in the seventh to account for the Jumbo offensive productivity outside of the first inning.

"We are going to do a lot of hitting in practice," Kenny said. "Our pitching is obviously there, so it will be almost total hitting for the rest of the week."

In the previous game, Tufts singed the Polar Bears to the tune of a 5-1 victory. Once again, the Jumbos struck early, scoring the first run of the day in the bottom of the first.

Senior Jon Herbert began the game with a triple. He crossed home when senior tri-captain Evan Zupancic skyed a sacrifice fly into the outfield.

In the third inning, Hickey knocked in Zupancic on an RBI single and Shapiro scored on a passed ball to give Tufts the 3-0 advantage.

Lee went the complete seven innings, scattering three hits and giving up one earned run to improve his season ERA to 2.51.

The offense in game one was more consistent than in game two as the Jumbos scored again in the fifth inning when junior Adam Kacamburas was given the free pass, stole second base and then tallied the run on a double play.

In the sixth, sophomore Frank Dinucci broke for home on a wild pitch and scored the fifth and final run of the Tufts campaign.

Though the end of the weekend series proved fruitful for the Jumbos, the first game of the three-part series did not end in their favor. On Friday, Tufts suffered its first NESCAC East loss, falling to the Polar Bears in the opening game of the series 5-3.

As was the trend in Saturday's matchups, the Jumbos scored first with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Kenny hit a two-run single to drive in Clement and Shapiro.

In the sixth, Tufts increased its lead to 3-0 when sophomore John McBride hustled down the line to beat out a double play and allow Dinucci to come in from third.

Tufts' starting pitcher, senior tri-captain Dave Martin, carried the Jumbos into the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead after Bowdoin's Rick Leclerc scored in the seventh on a miscue by Shapiro.

The ninth was not kind to the Jumbos, however, as Leclerc singled in the lead off spot. T.J. McLeod reached base on an infield hit, but Leclerc was hung out to dry trying to advance to third.

With one out to work with, the Polar Bears needed two runs to force the game into extra frames. Andy DeMarco came through with a base hit moving McLeod over to second.

Newsom came into the game as the fireman reliever to try to get the Jumbos out of the jam and into the clubhouse with a victory. But Bowdoin's Jared Lemieux blazed a line drive into right center to knock in both McLeod and DeMarco to tie it up at three and send the game into extra innings.

Shea hit an RBI single and added an insurance run on a Clement error in the top half of the eleventh inning. The Jumbos entered the bottom of the inning down two. With one last opportunity, the game concluded when Bowdoin reliever Travis Dube punched the Jumbos out 1-2-3.

Tufts now stands at 11-5 overall and 3-1 in NESCAC East play. The team shares the top spot in the league with Trinity, its opponent in next weekend's three game series.

The Jumbos will face off against Brandeis on the road Tuesday at 3 p.m. The non-league matchup against the Judges should prepare the Jumbos for their upcoming weekend at Trinity.